Zhores I. Alferov

(1930 - )

Zhores Ivanovich Alferov was born
on March 15, 1930, in Vitsebsk, Byelorussian SSR (now Belarus). In
1952, he graduated from V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) Electrotechnical
Institute in Leningrad (abbreviated to LETI). Since
1953, he has worked in the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Russian Academy of
Sciences since 1991). From the Institute he earned scientific
degrees: a Candidate of Sciences in Technology in 1961
and a Doctor of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics
in 1970. Director of the Institute since 1987, he was
elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of
Sciences in 1972 and a full member in 1979. From 1989,
he has been Vice-President of the USSR (Russian since
1991) Academy of Sciences and President of its Saint
Petersburg Scientific Center.

Since 1962, he has been working in
the area of semiconductor heterostructures. His contributions
to physics and technology of semiconductor heterostructures,
especially investigations of injection properties, development
of lasers, solar cells, LED's, and epitaxy processes
have led to the creation of modern heterostructure physics
and electronics.

In 2000, Alferov received the Nobel
Prize for Physics, with Herbert Kroemer and Jack
Kilby.

Awards

Lenin Prize (1972)

USSR State Prize (1984)

Ioffe Prize (Russian Academy of Sciences,
1996)

Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology
(2001)

The following press release from the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences describes Alferov's
work:

In today's society increasing amounts
of information flow from our computers out through the
optical fibres of the Internet and through our mobile
telephones to satellite radio links all over the world.
Two simple but fundamental requirements are put on a
modern information system for it to be practically useful.
It must be fast, so that large volumes of information
can be transferred in a short time. The user's apparatus
must be small so that there is room for it in offices,
homes, briefcases or pockets.

Through their inventions this year's
Nobel Laureates in physics have laid a stable foundation
for modern information technology. Zhores I. Alferov
and Herbert Kroemer have invented and developed fast
opto- and microelectronic components based on layered
semiconductor structures, termed semiconductor heterostructures.
Fast transistors built using heterostructure technology
are used in e.g. radio link satellites and the base
stations of mobile telephones. Laser diodes built with
the same technology drive the flow of information in
the Internet's fibre-optical cables. They are also found
in CD players, bar-code readers and laser pointers.
With heterostructure technology powerful light-emitting
diodes are being built for use in car brake-lights,
traffic lights and other warning lights. Electric bulbs
may in the future be replaced by light-emitting diodes.

Zhores I. Alferov born 1930 in Vitebsk,
White Russia, then the Soviet Union. Doctor's degree
in physics and mathematics 1970 at A.F. Ioffe Physico-Technical
Institute in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), Russia.
Director of this Institute since 1987.